Saturday, January 14, 2012

Handwriting on the wall

The so-called wall of fame is a feature of Lucas County's courthouse attic that I neglected to mention when writing earlier this week about a visit to the uppermost recesses to local government.

Hundreds of names, the majority inscribed into plaster, cover the south wall of the stair well that rises from the second floor to a door leading into the big open space under the roof. A few later names have been added in ink, more structurally kind perhaps but aesthetically suspect.

It's not clear how far back the names go, but perhaps the last 50 years would be a good guess. Courthouse staffers preparing to haul loads of clutter down three flights of stairs to a waiting pickup said anyone who ascends to the attic is invited to add his or her signature --- although I wonder about that (neither the alternate Frank nor I did).

In at least one instance, there's enough additional information associated with a name to give some idea of why the signer was there. Dale Jordan apparently was associated somehow with the courthouse's slate roof. Whether Frank Rogers, a December 1978 visitor, was associated with Jordan is another matter, although their boxes join. Mr. Folkerts, upper right, apparently made several return visits between 1993 and 1997.

If you want to take a closer look at the names, just right click on a photo and select "open link in new window."

I'm wondering if the fact fewer people carry pocket knives these days had anything to do with the shift from incised to superficial penmanship.

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I walked into Piper's for donuts yesterday morning complaining about the snow, the cold and how tired I was of winter and Jill said something insensitive like, "yeah, all two days of it." But I guess she's right.

We're due, according to forecasters, for a Sunday high near 50. Hopefully that will take care of the snow since it doesn't look like many of us worked up enough energy to actually shovel away what little fell. Colder temperatures and a little more snow seem to be headed our way after that. We need the moisture, but snow is a darned inconvenient way to get it sometimes.

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About that danged blogger

1. Southern Iowan. Who can measure the importance of place? 2. Queer, cranky and getting older. 3. Vietnam veteran. 4. Certified skeptic: Secular humanist with a Lutheran and Unitarian Universalist past and Episcopalian leanings. My life, as does everyone else's, involves living contradictions with as much grace as possible.